Karen is known for her magic with the written word, pulling you quickly into a time and place of her choosing, allowing you to become immediately invested in the characters (and some of them are truly "characters"!).
Once again, she does not disappoint.
Right away I wanted to know Ivy's story and why Larken ran away from home. Why did she hang up Bennett and refuse her father's call? Why does she not share herself with any of her co-workers? Just what the heck happened 50 years ago to have these women's lives be shaped as they are/were?
When you see the gorgious cover of Karen's latest book, you fall in love right there, the love affair continues through to the last page.
Click HERE for excerpt
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Description
New York Times bestselling author Karen White crafts
evocative relationships in this contemporary women's fiction novel, set
in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, about lifelong friends who share a
devastating secret.
On the banks of the North Santee River stands a moss-draped oak that was once entrusted with the dreams of three young girls. Into the tree's trunk, they placed their greatest hopes, written on ribbons, for safekeeping--including the most important one: Friends forever, come what may.
But life can waylay the best of intentions....
Nine years ago, a humiliated Larkin Lanier fled Georgetown, South Carolina, knowing she could never go back. But when she finds out that her mother has disappeared, she realizes she has no choice but to return to the place she both loves and dreads--and to the family and friends who never stopped wishing for her to come home.
Ivy, Larkin's mother, is discovered badly injured and unconscious in the burned-out wreckage of her ancestral plantation home. No one knows why Ivy was there, but as Larkin digs for answers, she uncovers secrets kept for nearly fifty years--whispers of love, sacrifice, and betrayal--that lead back to three girls on the brink of womanhood who found their friendship tested in the most heartbreaking ways.
On the banks of the North Santee River stands a moss-draped oak that was once entrusted with the dreams of three young girls. Into the tree's trunk, they placed their greatest hopes, written on ribbons, for safekeeping--including the most important one: Friends forever, come what may.
But life can waylay the best of intentions....
Nine years ago, a humiliated Larkin Lanier fled Georgetown, South Carolina, knowing she could never go back. But when she finds out that her mother has disappeared, she realizes she has no choice but to return to the place she both loves and dreads--and to the family and friends who never stopped wishing for her to come home.
Ivy, Larkin's mother, is discovered badly injured and unconscious in the burned-out wreckage of her ancestral plantation home. No one knows why Ivy was there, but as Larkin digs for answers, she uncovers secrets kept for nearly fifty years--whispers of love, sacrifice, and betrayal--that lead back to three girls on the brink of womanhood who found their friendship tested in the most heartbreaking ways.
by Karen White
Pub Date
05 Jun 2018
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READERS GUIDE
Questions for Discussion1. Friendship is everlasting—or at least that’s how the old saying goes. Why do you think CeeCee and Bitty continued to stay friends even after everything that happened?
2. To err is human; to forgive, divine. Forgiveness plays a prominent role in the book—everyone needs to learn to forgive one another, but also themselves. Would you be able to forgive as the characters did?
3. The past can define one’s future—or one can build her own future. How does Larkin decide not to let the past define her and to live life the way she wants to live it?
4. Love can blind us—and even cause us to keep secrets from those we love. Would you keep a secret, as CeeCee did from Larkin, all in the name of love?
5. Honor and duty tears many of the characters’ relationships apart—including that between Boyd and CeeCee. Do you agree with Boyd’s decision? Or regret it, as he did in the end?
6. True love is one of the subjects of the book—but true love exists not only in a romantic sense but also in a motherly sense. How did you feel when you realized that through Ivy’s murals, Larkin learned she was really her mother’s true love?
7. Bennett patiently waited for Larkin—would you be able to do the same?